SEATTLE — It's easy to obsess over the obvious and ignore everything else.

With 1:05 left in the fourth quarter Sunday, Isaiah Simmons leapt over Seahawks left guard Laken Tomlinson. The 6-foot-4, 238-pound hurdler landed in the backfield, lifted both arms and batted Jason Myers' game-tying 47-yard field-goal attempt into the Lumen Field turf. New York Giants wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton snatched the ball and sprinted 60 yards into the opposite end zone to effectively end the game, as a crowd of 68,306 assumed a stunned silence.

In journalism terms, that's the lede — the lasting memory from a sobering 29-20 loss.

But in reality, a blocked field goal alone didn't sink the Seahawks.

Even before the iceberg, there were gaping holes in the hull.

What about a defense that severely disappointed for the second consecutive week? Even without their best wide receiver (Malik Nabers) and running back (Devin Singletary), the Giants effortlessly jaunted back and forth at Lumen Field. Quarterback Daniel Jones completed 23-of-34 attempts (67.6%) and threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns, while wide receiver Darius Slayton terrorized the Seahawks secondary (specifically cornerback Tre Brown) to the tune of eight catches, 122 yards and a 30-yard score.

Without injured edge rushers Uchenna Nwosu and Boye Mafe and defensive lineman Byron Murphy II, the Seahawks managed a grand total of two tackles for loss and one pass breakup. More concerningly, Seattle (again) struggled to stuff the run — as Giants tailback Tyrone Tracy erupted for 129 rushing yards and 7.2 yards per carry.

If you were wondering, Tracy — a fifth-round rookie from Purdue — entered the game with 29 rushing yards and 2.4 yards per carry on the year.

What about an offense that suddenly seems unsustainably unbalanced? Kenneth Walker III — who entered the week with the top overall grade among NFL halfbacks, per Pro Football Focus — received just five scattered carries (which yielded 19 yards) Sunday, compared to 40 pass attempts from quarterback Geno Smith.

Against a Giants defense that ranked 24th in the NFL in opponent yards per carry (4.7), the Seahawks politely declined to prioritize their running back.

"We definitely need to get the run game going," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "The way the game started, we were thinking about trying to get Geno going early. I'm not sure how many plays we had in the first half, but it wasn't many. The game started to get out of hand there, so we had to get going. But you're right: we have to get the run game going. We have to get Ken the ball more."

When asked Sunday if he expected to run the ball more, Walker simply said: "I mean, you always expect to run the ball."

What about a momentum-snuffing fumble from Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf for the second consecutive week? This time, the fumble occurred with 12:13 left in the third quarter, as Seattle entered the red zone in a 10-10 tie. After being sandwiched by cornerback Deonte Banks and linebacker Bobby Okereke, Metcalf coughed up the ball at New York's 21-yard line. After safety Tyler Nubin fell on the familiar fumble, Seattle's wide receiver banged both hands on the turf.

But it wasn't a fateful fumble that felled the Seahawks ... despite the fact that New York produced a touchdown four plays later. It wasn't the deteriorating run defense, or the porous pass rush, or the Giants' seven sacks, or a Jaxon Smith-Njigba drop on third-and-4 that preceded Myers' failed field goal. It wasn't Macdonald's decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Seahawks' 35-yard line, which resulted in one of those seven Smith sacks.

It was all of it, everything, a collective letdown — and that's much more concerning.

Or, as Macdonald correctly said: "Talk about not doing things in all three phases to win a football game."

A positive?

"Yeah, we woke up this morning," said Smith, who completed 28-of-40 passes and threw for 284 yards and one touchdown. "That's a positive. We're still alive."

Indeed, the Seahawks are alive and leading a division positively waiting to be won — ahead of the uneven Arizona Cardinals (2-3), San Francisco 49ers (2-3) and Los Angeles Rams (1-4). Despite a two-game losing streak, Seattle can lengthen that lead when it hosts San Francisco in primetime on Thursday night.

So, while this isn't time to overreact, let's readjust expectations.

Let's remember that the Seahawks' defense did its early damage against a quarterback making his first career start (Denver's Bo Nix), a career backup that hasn't won since the opener (New England's Jacoby Brissett), and a duo forced into action because of injury (Miami's Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle). With several of its mainstays still attempting to overcome injuries, that defense will now see San Francisco, Atlanta, Buffalo and the aforementioned Rams, before receiving a merciful bye.

Or, in other words: it might get worse before it gets better.

"You've got to learn how to struggle well," said Seahawks safety Julian Love. "You can struggle and just shut down, or you can face adversity and solve some things and everyone have that approach and growth mindset. So we have to have that this week."

The Seahawks certainly struggled Sunday.

But while a blocked field goal is easy to explain away, that was just the beginning.

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